Results 241-260 of 309 for speaker:Keith Swanick

Seanad: Commencement Matters: HIQA Reports (1 Mar 2017)

Keith Swanick: I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to address this very serious issue. As the Minister of State is aware, HIQA released a report in December regarding financial irregularities in the Greenmount property at the St. Mary's, Drumcar, campus of St. John of God. The report found that the residential centre for people with disabilities took thousands of euro from the private...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: HIQA Reports (1 Mar 2017)

Keith Swanick: That is exactly why an independent review of the services provided at Drumcar is needed. It is also why I am bitterly disappointed a specialised review of the facility is not taking place. We need to remember that the population is getting older. In the next 30 years the number of people over 65 will double, while the number over 85 will quadruple. All aspects of the health system will be...

Seanad: Order of Business (1 Mar 2017)

Keith Swanick: I wish to propose an amendment to the Order of Business to the effect that No. 10 be taken before No. 1 today. The former is the Critical Health Professionals Bill 2017, which would allow all critical health employees of the Department of Health, the HSE and section 38 organisations to prolong their working lives for an initial two years on the basis of dual consent. This issue was first...

Seanad: Critical Health Professionals Bill 2017: First Stage (1 Mar 2017)

Keith Swanick: I move:That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to ensure that critical health professionals who are employees of all organisations funded directly by the Department of Health, all organisations funded by the Health Service Executive, all organisations funded under section 38 of the Health Act 2004, and all other health and disability service providers, may, if they wish,...

Seanad: Critical Health Professionals Bill 2017: First Stage (1 Mar 2017)

Keith Swanick: It is an arbitrary age in the calendar.

Seanad: Critical Health Professionals Bill 2017: First Stage (1 Mar 2017)

Keith Swanick: I hope this will get cross-party support in the House.

Seanad: Critical Health Professionals Bill 2017: First Stage (1 Mar 2017)

Keith Swanick: Next Tuesday.

Seanad: North-South Interconnector: Motion (1 Mar 2017)

Keith Swanick: I welcome the Minister, Deputy Naughten to the House. I support this motion and I commend my colleagues Senators Gallagher and Wilson on calling for an independent expert review. I also welcome to the House Councillor Clifford Kelly who has been a long-term campaigner on this issue, as well as Deputy Cassells. I have spoken today to a councillor of more 33 years' experience from the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: I will be concise in my contributions because I understand that important parliamentary party meetings are happening in half an hour. I was absent earlier because there were statements on symphysiotomy in the Seanad, so some of my points may already have been touched on. I thank the Minister of State and the HSE team for answering some of the questions I submitted. Things have moved on...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: Fair enough. I understand the team will meet every second month. Do we have an exact timeline for when the meeting will occur? Obviously, it will result in a recommendation for Cabinet and it is important to have an exact timeline on it. Will it be next week or the week after? We saw today another passionate presentation from CF sufferers and their family members. As we know, every day...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: That will be the recommendation to Government.

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: Over recent weeks, the appalling condition of Ireland's health system, particularly the unacceptable waiting lists, has been to the fore. The Euro Health Consumer Index has ranked Ireland's health care system 21st out of 35 countries. Ahead of Ireland are countries with much lower incomes, such as Macedonia and Slovenia. Our accident and emergency unit waiting times are the worst in...

Seanad: Symphysiotomy Payment Scheme: Statements (Resumed) (22 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: I will start with the words of one survivor of symphysiotomy:They gave me gas and air and an injection, and took me to another room, where they tied my legs up on each side. There were two nurses on each side of me. I saw this doctor at the end of my bed with a big, long silver thing. They made a hole in your private parts, and he inserted this silver thing up and cut the pubic bone and...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Coast Guard Services (15 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: I thank the Minister for coming to the House to address the glaring anomaly in legislation, or lack thereof, covering the Irish Coast Guard. As a medic on the west coast, I regularly liaise with the Irish Coast Guard and experience first hand the bravery and commitment of its members to serving the public while putting their own lives in danger. On every single call out they are exposed to...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Coast Guard Services (15 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: With the greatest respect to the Minister, I fundamentally disagree with the sentiments he has expressed. There is a need to put the Coast Guard on a statutory footing and that response could have been e-mailed to me, quite frankly. I ask the Minister to engage personally with the Coast Guard, to meet its representatives face to face and listen to their real and valid concerns. I also...

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: I wish to raise the incredible story of a concerned citizen, Paul Egan, who should be called a Good Samaritan. It started almost three weeks ago on 27 January in Keshkerrigan, County Leitrim, when Paul Egan, a HSE employee from Sligo encountered a very serious car crash. He witnessed an 18-year old woman, Tamara Jade Huxtable, from Drumshanbo, County Leitrim, wandering in the middle of the...

Seanad: Hospital Waiting Lists: Motion (15 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: I move amendment No. 1:To delete all words after “That Seanad Éireann” and substitute:“noting:- the very great distress and pain being suffered by people enduring long periods on hospital waiting lists; - the fact that the long waiting times are further exacerbating the clinical conditions needing treatment thereby producing more pain and suffering; and - that such...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Catheterisation Laboratory Clinical Review: Discussion (8 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: I welcome Dr. Herity. I will follow up on something the Minister of State and Deputy Cullinane mentioned earlier with regard to the fact that 40% of the workload undertaken in UHW is performed by consultants Dr. Niall Colwell from South Tipperary General Hospital and Dr. Aidan Buckley. Why were these consultants not spoken to or consulted with? I would have thought it prudent for all...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Catheterisation Laboratory Clinical Review: Discussion (8 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: My question is brief. The question is not in my role as a Senator but as a doctor. It is from one doctor to another. Does Dr. Herity believe that in the absence of a second catheterisation laboratory and a 24-7 service, lives are being endangered and people are dying? It is a simple question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Catheterisation Laboratory Clinical Review: Discussion (8 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: Is that not the nub of the whole situation? As a rural practitioner, I respectfully disagree with the point made by Dr. Herity that the 90-minute target time is invariably an aspiration. A 24-7 service in Waterford would cater for those patients who are being disenfranchised.